Reckitt Benckiser – how we have grown to become one of the most productive factories in the world
Winek Bronny, former Director of the Reckitt Benckiser Factory in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki
In two years, our factory has become one of the most productive branches of Reckitt Benckiser in the world, it has become the factory of first choice to produce household chemicals and one of the largest FMCG factories in the world. The above-mentioned results were contributed by the strategy developed with the support of Janusz Kamieński and the system supporting its implementation. Interestingly, the corporation appreciated the uniqueness of this solution to such an extent that it allowed our plant in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki to maintain this system as a separate one from in force worldwide. What is more, thanks to the fantastic business results achieved, a dozen or so top managers have been appointed factory heads in many Reckitt Benckiser branches around the world. I myself have been promoted to regional director for Latin America.
Our factory produced a very large number of different products in approx. 3000 variants (measured by SKU – Stock Keeping Unit). This entailed the need to quickly change the machines. We used a Balanced Scorecard system, which consisted of about 300 measures. Managing them was very difficult. We needed to become an agile factory.
The Agile slogan has become a starting point for changes. Janusz Kamieński helped us not only to develop a new Balanced Scorecard, but through the involvement of key managers, develop a factory strategy based on understanding what is value for our customers. This in turn made it possible to select key areas of focus and the most important measures. The factory management system developed during a series of workshops and approved by the company’s management was based on them, combined with a revolutionized bonus system, combining the factory strategy with the MBO system functioning in the organization.
Later, Janusz Kamieński and his consultants helped us with implementing the entire strategy. It required building strong leadership attitudes and management skills at the highest level. A series of managerial training courses carried out by Strategy & Results (then still operating under the name Executive-Conversation), preceded and followed by 360० managerial competency research (it was the best tool of this type I have ever encountered), allowed me to supplement the “hard” management system with “soft” cultural aspects. It is the combination of these two directions of action – cultural and strategic – that contributed not only to the effectiveness of the project, but also to the durability of the implemented changes. As a result, we made our Agile dream come true in a factory employing over 2,000 people.
It is worth noting that while I was the factory director, which coincided with years of cooperation with Janusz Kamieński, the number of employees decreased from 3,000 to slightly more than 2,000, and at that time there was a very large increase in the production volume. In addition, a promotion department has developed in our company. Usually, it is assigned to a commercial organization, however, due to the efficient functioning of the factory, we were responsible for this department, where it successfully developed to a group of over 300 people.
In our company, we have worked with many consultants. We chose Janusz Kamieński because he combines deep substantive knowledge, professional experience and an extremely inspiring personality. Not only that, we were not disappointed, but Reckitt Benckiser has been implementing projects with Janusz’s consultants since 2008 to date.